The response to a recent issue of Laurie's News & Views on beauty has
brought forth many responses from authors and readers alike. Author
Rebecca Sinclair, whose most recent release, Perfect Strangers,
featured an overweight heroine, had this to say:

Gabrielle Carelton did not spring to life, fully developed, the way many
of my previous heroines have. Instead, I came up with the plot for
Perfect Strangers first, then started searching my imagination
for characters to "people" it.

Meanwhile, I was active in the newsgroup bit.listserv.rra-l (Romance
Readers Anonymous). While I was searching for a hero and heroine,
members of the newsgroup were commenting on how difficult it was to find
a romance with a "realistic" heroine. That caught my interest. What
kind of woman were they referring to? Normal, they said. Maybe
overweight and plain, which, oddly enough, many of these lovely ladies
considered themselves to be. They didn't want a heroine who started out
heavy, then lost weight by the end of the book
and, quite frankly, I wasn't interested in writing about one. Now that
my interest was captured, I wanted Gabrielle (I knew her name by then)
to be physically the same on the last page of the book as she was on the
first.

There was only one problem. The only times I've been heavy was when I
was pregnant. I asked the newsgroup for help ... and couldn't believe
how many touching emails I received! Some were stories that threatened
to break my heart; all of them gave me valuable insight to Gabrielle
that I would never
have had otherwise. Any time I started to loose my grip on the
character, I reread those letters -- and felt inspired again by the very
personal experiences these wonderful ladies willingly shared to make
Gabrielle Carelton come alive. As for Gabrielle's hero . . .
Connor
fell in love at first sight; she was never anything but beautiful in his
eyes. "As is" was never a consideration for him, he thought she was
perfect.

Would I ever write an overweight heroine again? Now that you mention it
. . . the heroine of my next book (Golden Dreams - tentative title) is
plain by "normal" standards, heavy, and beautiful in every way. Her
hero must be an descendant of Connor, because he also loves his heroine
exactly the way she is. Yes, I definitely plan to have more heavy
heroines in the future . . . and I've saved every one of those emails
for when I do. :)